Way back before the Vipassana, Michelle and I went to a very interesting place called Hampi. Full of beautiful ruins, amazing views and enormous rocks!! We hired a rickshaw driver for the day (Viru) for 700 Rupees and he drove us around to all the sights and even took us for a walk to this cool place where the rocks have been worn away by the rapids and now there are huge, very deep holes filled with pools of water.

I thought I had entered my last posting.... but some of these pictures were too good!

Beware.... there's quite a few photos!!








































More MONKEYS!

Thank you for the comments!!

Wow!!!!

I didn't realize how many people were commenting on my blog!!! I don't receive any sort of notification that someone's left a comment and I only went looking for them tonight!

Thank you to all those who followed, commented, liked, laughed, cried....

Back at Home

My days in India are over and I've been home for three weeks now. It's been quite an adjustment, which has come as a surprise to me. This feeling is very hard to explain. My perspective has changed a lot and I see things in a different way, so perhaps my view on 'normal life' has skewed somewhat. My eyes have been opened, my heart has been stretched, my path is more broad. I'm very happy with the experiences and philosophies I've brought back with me to Canada. I feel renewed and ready to take life to the next level!! I feel as though India was a swirl of positive energy, just waiting to send me gifts -- some that I'd been waiting a long time for and others I wasn't even expecting! For many reasons, India will always have a very special place in my heart. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime and I will certainly find myself there again soon.

Anyone who has plans to travel to India, I'd love to share more of my stories.

My next phase is to begin teaching yoga. I'm a certified yogi now and I want to share my passion for yoga with the public! I have a lot of support and encouragement within the yoga community and I don't think it'll be long before I've got my own classes! That is, once I get over my fear of getting started!!

I'm not sure how many people actually followed this blog? I hope you've enjoyed escorting me through South India, the ashram, the Vipassana, the food.... etc. It's been fun to share it with you!!

Until my next adventure.... 'namaste'!

PONDICHERRY

Greetings from Pondicherry!!

Oh, Pondicherry..... the last city in our travels through South India. I absolutely loved the French Quarter of the city. The locals speak French, the streets are lined with French bakeries (full of French pastries!!), and most mornings I enjoyed a delicious breakfast of enormous croissants, a bowl of fresh fruit with muesli, scrambled eggs, coffee, juice... (yes - I ate like a PIG!!) in an beautiful outdoor courtyard.... with FREE Wi-Fi! Haha-- none of this is sounding very 'Indian' is it? It was sort of like a holiday within a holiday.



(These 2 images were found online - not mine.)


Pondicherry has a nice boardwalk along the water and I managed to get out for a run a couple of times. I followed my personal yoga practice and did my headstand (almost) every morning. I'll admit, my meditation was a little slack.



(These 2 images were found online - not mine.)



I went out shooting with my camera a couple of times. This is sort of an unorganized schmozz, but here's some of what I got...

















There were very little reminders that Christmas was just around the corner....





We took a bus tour to a place called Auroville one of our last days in Pondicherry. It was a very unusual and interesting place. It's a town created in the 60's as an experiment in human unity, comprised of about 45 different nations around the world. All inhabitants believe in universal peace and they work collaboratively to attain that peace. The concept was based on the teachings and visions of Sri Auro Bindo and 'the Mother'.



If you'd like to know more, you can take a look at the website.

http://www.auroville.org/

At the heart of Auroville is a HUGE meditation site called Matrimandir. Deliberate thought and work went into the development and construction of this building and there is a very strict viewing policy for anyone not living in Auroville. It's a DIFFERENT way of life, that's for sure.... and as I said, an experiment.

This is the Matrimandir.... it's so intricate....




This is a Banyan tree. It's branches grow downwards and take root again in the soil... When Auroville was first in its conceptualization stage, 'the Mother' had visions of a tree. Apparently this was THE tree and this is where the experiment was born.



Our last afternoon in Pondicherry, Michelle and I decided to approach these boys to buy some hand-sewn bags for our Christmas gifts. They were MORE than delighted when we said we'd each buy 6! They were both so sweet and wanted to marry us. Michelle played some Katy Perry and there was a party in the street for about 15 minutes! This was a great moment.....